Getting Into the Christmas Spirit

So, 2 days after we got back from our cruise, we got the news about our little man's heart.  It was such a busy and stressful week because not only did we spend extra time at doctor appointments that week, but we were also finishing the final packing to move into our new house.  It was honestly a little hard to get into the spirit of Christmas this year, but we did our best to make things fun for the kids.
We took Beckett to Macy's to mail his letter to the Santa at the North Pole. He still doesn't totally get the Santa thing.  The only thing he asked for was a Polar Express Train that moved on its own.  We tried to prompt him to ask for a few other things, but that was really the only thing he consistently wanted.  Anytime I'd put a present under the tree he'd say, "Is that the Polar Express train that moves on its own mommy?" I kept trying to explain that he asked Santa for that and he'd have to wait until Christmas morning to see if Santa brought it for him.

Here is Griff "helping" me pack.  He is such a great helper and knows just what to do to make things easier. haha.

Finally, the big day came.  We moved everything into our new home on Decemeber 6th. We had a lot of help from the ward we were moving out of and the ward we were moving in to plus great help from Tagg's family.  It went much quicker than I thought.  The thing I was the most nervous about was my piano.  This piano is over 100 years old and weighs a ton.  As you can see from this picture it took 8 grown, strong men to move it from the truck into our house.  Well, I guess 7 strong men and one that supervised. ;)

While we moved into our house, my in-laws watched the boys so we could get things done quickly without distractions.  It was an awesome help and the boys had fun playing with their cousins and building gingerbread houses.

We had boxes everywhere, but one of the first things I wanted to do was put up our stockings and our Christmas tree.  We put up a few other decorations this year also because I couldn't stand the thought of Christmas coming and not having any decorations around. 

We were able to do the angel tree again this year for a 4 year old boy.  It's always bittersweet to pick things out for a little boy that is Zach's age.  I try to imagine what he'd like and want but I often just have to guess and hope he will like it.  His paper said he needed socks and he wanted a watch.  It makes me cry thinking that a family is struggling so much they can't buy socks for their child.  I am seriously so blessed and doing this is a reminder of how much I truly have.

We made a visit to see the trains at North Park mall.  The kids loved it last year so we wanted to go back again this year. 

We went with Tucker, Amanda, Liam and Darcy and all the kids loved it.  I love this picture of all of them so enthralled with the trains. 

We've all enjoyed being in our new house and having more space.  The boys and especially me, LOVE that they have a toy room to play in without stringing toys around the whole house.  It's awesome! Beckett was super proud of himself for lining up all the tractors and construction cars. 

Beckett and Griff both love playing with our Fisher Price nativity.  Beckett would line all of the animals and people up to see baby Jesus.  I love how in this picture he also has King the race car there to see Jesus.  Sometimes he would pull Joseph out and then sing "Old McDonald" with all the animals pretending like Joseph was the farmer. He is such a funny kid and is constantly making us laugh.

Beckett was also really excited to pick out presents for people and help us wrap them.  He wouldn't always keep the present a secret, but he was excited about giving gifts which made me happy.  He wanted to get Tagg and book called Mighty Dads so we bought it and when we got home, he ran to Tagg and told him we bought him a book for Christmas but it was a surprise so he couldn't tell him what it was.

We had a pizza night and the boys loved making their own pizzas.  I love how intensely Beckett is concentrating on spreading that sauce around.

The boys are also loving the "park" in our backyard.  I love being able to send them outside to play and not have to worry about them.  They love having picnics outside too.  Once it warms up a little more I'm sure they will spend lots of time playing outside all day long.

Griff loves everything Beckett does which means pretty much the only toys played with in our house are trains, trucks, airplanes and cars.  Griff will watch the way Beckett plays with them and then do the same things.  I love his little car, train and airplane noises he makes as he plays with them. 

And of course we had to get a picture with Santa! Beckett was a little anxious about sitting on his lap, but he did it and told him he wanted a Polar Express train.

Griff on the other hand wasn't so happy about sitting on Santa's lap.  He lasted long enough to get a quick picture.

We had a Christmas party with Tagg's family since we were all going our separate ways for Christmas this year.  I didn't take any pictures unfortunately, but the boys got some fun presents that they enjoyed playing with before we went to San Antonio. This cute table and chairs set was from Ned and Gena and the boys love coloring on it.

Beckett got this train from Liam and has used it so much that it pretty much has all broken now.  The engine still works but all of the cars couplers have broken.  Did you know that a coupler is what hooks the trains together?  I didn't until recently when Beckett told me.  Good thing I have him around to teach me about trains.

Our lead up to Christmas was okay. Like I said, things were just so busy and crazy that it was hard for  it to really feel like Christmas but I was excited to get to San Antonio and be able to relax and escape from the craziness for a few weeks.